Gorilla Foods, Vanocuver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

I really enjoy good raw food. If it is prepared well the flavors are amazing and it is a very pleasant dining experience. When it is not good however….it is not good. We had heard many good things about Gorilla Foods so we put it on the list. We tried the lasagna which I was very excited about – we have had raw lasagna at a few other places and it has been delicious. This was…not good. It was so dry and had a very thick top crust of just crushed nuts. Below that were some shredded carrots and greens that had almost no flavor. I don’t know how they could mess this up…I mean I like veggies raw. How did they make it taste like nothing?

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also tried a slice of the Ital Veggie Pizza to compare with the raw pizza from Organic Lives. This was also…not good. It was just a ton of greens on a dry hard crust. It was like eating a really dry flavorless salad. Not good at all. I couldn’t eat it.

Overall – Do not stop by Gorilla Foods, unless maybe you just want a smoothie (I didn’t have the smoothies so I don’t know how they are, but really how bad could you mess them up?). The food was pre-made and took 2 seconds to come out to us, had no flavor, was really dry and just like eating a bland salad. If this were my first introduction to raw food I probably would not have gone to another raw restaurant again unless forced to. I could see why people wouldn’t like raw food if this is what they had instead of the amazing raw food finds from other restaurants. Definitely don’t go here – go to Organic Lives or another raw restaurant. It will be sooooo much better and worth the money.

Organic Lives, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

After our failed attempt at breakfast at Café Deux Soleils we were still hungry so we ventured over to Organic Lives for a raw breakfast treat. First up was the cinnamon raison toast which is served with almond butter and blueberry jam (I mean here is the description from the menu: “If you miss the taste of toast and jam then this is just the right prescription for you. A bio-dynamically grown cinnamon that is pure in flavour and heart along with our Hunza Golden Raisins make this pleasure guilt-free. Fresh made jam from seasonal fruits and a dollop of almond butter will complete your craving.” Doesn’t that sound amazing? Well it does to me:) This was really delicious – super cinnamon-y which I loved, though it was really dry and hard for me to eat. It just dried my mouth out so much it was hard to chew and swallow, though the flavor was amazing. The jam was delicious, the almond butter was just so so to me – it did not have much flavor.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also ordered the original pizza with no mushrooms. This was incredible! “Vegetable flatbread topped with our macadamia-pinoli cheese, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, olives, pineapple and drizzled with an heirloom tomato sauce and pesto” So good. The flatbread was light and crispy like a cracker, the cheese was creamy and delicious, the veggies crisp, the sauces complimented everything nicely. Exactly what I wanted in a raw pizza. Raymond commented on how I should make some of the vegetable crackers to take with us hiking – I should really try that out as they are amazing. This was served with a ceasar salad (“Herb-Infused Himalayan Pine Seed Dressing with Almond Croutons”). Raymond thought it tasted like blue cheese, I thought it just tasted like a creamy nutty dressing. He really loved the salad and I thought it was good, but not amazing.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also order a dessert – You Had Me at Hello – a caramel cream tart. I thought it looked amazing, and it sounded amazing but…it was WAY too coconut-y for me. I really do not like coconut, but I will eat it if there is a light flavor, or like coconut milk in Thai curry and such. The only thing I could taste on this was coconut. Raymond really enjoyed it though so if you like coconut you could give it a try.

Overall – I would stop by here again and try out more of their foods. It took a while to get the food, but once we did it was delicious. This is how raw food should always be – tasty.

Nzyme, Oakville, ON Canada

From Vegan Gastrobot

We spent a few days visit the Toronto area and of course we had to try as many places are possible. Our flight got into Toronto at 3pm and we headed down to Niagara Falls to check it out since it was so close and we had never been. On our way down we stopped for dinner at Nzyme. After all of the amazing raw food we have had I did have high expectations for this restaurant. The lady working there was very nice, and there was only one other table there when we arrived, but the food too forever to get to us so don't go if you are really hungry (it took at least 50 min to get the food and we were both starving!). The first thing we ordered was the raw spaghetti with Alfredo. This was alright, but it was not amazing. There is a raw restaurant in Bellingham, WA where we had a similar dish and it was so much better. This just tasted like zucchini with lemon juice. There was dehydrated kale around the plate and that was tasty.

From Vegan Gastrobot

The second entree we ordered was the rawsagnia - zucchini noodles filled with marinara, sunflower cheese and meatless meat sauce. This was better than the spaghetti, but not amazing. It definitely had more flavor so that was good.

Overall - the food takes forever and is just so so. I wouldn't go back - there are plenty of other raw food places in Toronto you could try.

Leaf, Boulder CO

From Vegan Gastrobot

On our trip to Boulder we stopped by Leaf for happy hour after a day of exploring. It was a weekday, but when we got there the place was empty. We got some drinks and tried the raw wrap (the only small bite on the happy hour menu that was vegan). This was amazing! I was very skeptical as it seemed like something I wouldn't like much. Rainbow chard, pea shoots, mixed sprouts,carrots, basil almond paté, and cashew “ricotta. Really it was the pate that was putting me off - I still remember trying some vegan pate in Paris and bleck. This was just incredible. All of the flavors worked so well together and it was so light and I could have eaten a few more of them. This was so good that we made a point to come back later in our trip for dinner since I was intrigued but he raw thanksgiving dinner (we were there in November).

From Vegan Gastrobot

So when we went back we did get the raw thanksgiving dinner - stuffed mushroom with a cranberry sauce, almond corn croquette, mashed winter vegetables, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash,a veggie croquette with a cashew sauce, and Brussel sprouts and shaved squash. This was incredible! I wish we had a raw place in Seattle where I could get food like this. This might have been my favorite thing we ate while in Boulder - everything was just perfect!

From Vegan Gastrobot

Unfortunately we also tried the vegan enchiladas - corn, summer squash, zucchini, black & red beans, mazina tortilla, cilantro rice, guacamole, roasted tomatillo & tomato salsas. Leaf is a more expensive restaurant and I don't mind paying more for food if it is amazing. This was not amazing. It sounds like it would be really flavorful and delicious, but it just tasted like nothing. I don't understand how you can have so many different flavors and have it come out tasting like nothing at all.

From Vegan Gastrobot

For dessert we had peanut butter chocolate tart. I am not sure if there was peanut butter in this as you could not taste it at all. What you could taste was chocolate, coconut and mint - 2 of which I really do not like so I did not like this at all. The menu did not list anything about coconut or mint. I hate when places do that - why do you have to add flavors, but not list them? I don't understand.

Leaf was a mix of absolutely amazing food, and food that was not really good at all. I would definitely recommend going and trying their raw dishes as they were all amazing! Their cooked food though...I would skip. It is not worth it especially for the price.

Caravan of Dreams, New York City

From Food

On our tour of New York City we stopped into Caravan of Dreams. This place was amazing! I really wish we would have been hungrier when we stopped by here so we could have tried more food. I loved the atmosphere, the people working there were very nice, all in all a great restaurant. We weren't that hungry so we just tried a couple of the raw appetizers and we were not disappointed. The first thing we tried was the beet ravioli which was so delicious. The beets were sweet and tender, the filling and sauce added a little bit of spice....All together perfect. I love the sweet and spicy combo.

From Food

The other appetizer we tasted was the raw Squash Manicotti. This was also amazing. It was very light and flowery and just perfect.

From Food

Then we asked to see the dessert menu just to see what they had, even though we were not really hungry. What a mistake. How could we not order something? We ordered the warm banana nutella - caramelized banana and vegan nutella wrapped in a crepe with 3 different sauces drizzled over it. It was supposed to come with some ice cream as well, but we knew we would not be able to eat it so we asked to have it left off. This was amazing! Not too sweet, but just spot on. It was also fairly light for a dessert which was good.

Overall I would definitely come back here, though next time I won't eat beforehand and will try more. I spied on the tables next to us and all of the entrees looked amazing! I really wish we had this restaurant in Seattle as we would frequent it often, even though it is on the pricey side. If you want to go out to a nice restaurant or someplace special while in NYC this is the place I would go. I cannot say enough good things about it.